Admissions

LREI seeks to enroll students who are bright, curious, motivated and who show strong academic promise. The School is committed to creating an environment that is reflective of the wider community by enrolling students from diverse religious, ethnic, racial, and economic backgrounds and gender identities. Creating this diverse student body fosters opportunities for deeper cultural learning and understanding.

We Are LREI

Welcome to LREI. We are now, as we have always been, guided by our school's mission. As a truly progressive school community, we never shy away from the challenges and the possibilities of change and growth. It is this bold, experimental, progressive vision of education that continues to inspire and guide the LREI community today. What we did yesterday, what we are doing today, and what we will do tomorrow are all a part of a coherent 14-year experience inspired by our mission.

Academics

Since its founding, the LREI experience has been grounded in progressive principles that shape the design of program in each of our divisions. These principles place students at the center of their learning experiences, call on us to narrow the distance between the world around students and their school experiences, and engage learners in authentic problem solving on a daily basis. Our mission driven approach informs all aspects of our 14-year experience.

Life @ LREI

Our founding ideals of learning that is grounded in experience, inquiry, collaboration, growth and active democratic citizenship inform every aspect of daily life at LREI. LREI truly is a community of learners; it is a place where students, faculty and families come together each day in the spirit of creativity, collaboration and consequence.

Our Community

LREI is a community built on understanding and respect for others. Like New York City, we are diverse in every sense of the word. We are scientists, artists, historians and more. We embody a wide range of interests, beliefs, family structures and backgrounds. We thrive on the unique ideas and perspectives each person brings to the school.

Educational Technology

Educational Technology

Through formal computer lab instruction as well as embedded lessons in the classroom, LREI students learn to be critical thinkers who use technology to seek answers for themselves and to effectively express their ideas. A solid foundation of skills is built beginning in lower school and continuing on into high school, thus giving students the the ability to navigate new technologies confidently and responsibly. All students sign a responsible use policy and work to be good citizens at school, in their communities, and online.

As students transition from early childhood, technology is slowly integrated into their classrooms at developmentally appropriate times. Students become problem solvers with a variety of tools in their tech-box. Starting in lower school, students are encouraged to become self-directed learners who can effectively ask the right questions to discover new information independently. Students study their first programming language in third grade. When coding in Logo, the students learn syntax, develop troubleshooting skills, and become computational thinkers. As a class, fourth grade students write their own digital citizenship contract. The students are responsible for including examples of what makes a good digital citizen, as well as consequences for not abiding by this contract. This contract is then shared with and signed by an adult before students receive their school drive accounts. Fourth grade students produce the lower school yearbook, Really Red. Students work together to design a unique edition every year and become confident in Photoshop and InDesign.

Middle school technology instruction builds upon this framework. Fifth grade students dig deeper into coding, create their own games in Scratch, and produce their own websites in HTML. Continuing in middle school, students learn how to evaluate websites and resources for veracity and bias. In fifth grade, students are given access to an LREI email account, and discuss at length what it means to write an email and have a digital record of their words. Fifth grade students are also asked to design everything from websites to storage solutions to 3D models and board games. Our “Gear Girls” group creates Rube Goldberg machines, presents on female inventors, and experiments with maker technology. Eighth graders are able to express themselves using Photoshop and InDesign in our digital arts course, creating public service announcements, and manipulating basic images.

In high school, students build and strengthen their internet research and resource evaluation skills in the technology and digital literacy course. These students explore how their digital identity interacts with the information they consume. They build and strengthen their internet research and resource evaluation skills, and create thoughtful, intentional visual media.The culminating experience for students at LREI is the senior project, which students complete in their final trimester. Each project is experiential and interdisciplinary and reflects the student’s individual passions and interests. Students share what they have learned at the senior project presentation evening, utilizing their digital design skills to create visual presentations.